The Influencers:
Plastic Surgeon Steven Teitelbaum

Hollywood has never been known for its subtlety. But if Teitelbaum, a Santa Monica–based plastic surgeon, has his way, that impression might soon change. Increasingly sought out for work on the body—liposuction, breast implants, tummy tucks, and the like—he is guided by principles of proportion and restraint, and he produces astonishingly natural-looking effects. For this reason, the best breast augmentation is not the biggest. "The key is to measure the breast and to fill it up to its ideal volume," says Teitelbaum, who has patented a sizing tool for this critical step. "Most plastic surgeons view this process as meeting the patient's desire for size. That doesn't work." It leads to breasts that seem out of proportion with the body, visible edges on the implants, and a look that is artificially round and overstuffed. His goal for any procedure is that the site of the surgery "blend into the surrounding sites," he says. And that's clearly a coveted skill in Hollywood.

• Breasts that blend subtly from the collarbone down. Patients don't want a bulge, a shelf, or excessive roundness in the upper breast.

• Nipples that are just tipped up from the horizon, not pointing significantly up or down (which is caused by under—or overfilling, respectively).

Favorite Things

*In his work on the female body, Teitelbaum says, he is often restoring or enhancing a more youthful, feminine look. But he cautions against overdoing surgical changes, which can create a kind of parody of femininity. That's where taste comes into play, and the way to acquire it is to train the eye. "Physical beauty is based on canons of proportion that are ubiquitous throughout the natural and created world," Teitelbaum says. Here are some creations that have shaped his work. *

I would say that this painting has influenced me the most. With the outline of the breasts, Matisse can make one woman appear to be going up and another going down. It showed me what it is that our eye perceives in breasts. It also emphasizes how much the body changes in various positions-jumping up, turning, landing down, reaching.

"I took my five-year-old nephew to the museum, and he stood in front of this painting and asked me, 'Do they have breastplants?' The entire perimeter of the breast is delineated by a strong black line—when an implant is too large, the borders are visible and create a shadow just like in the painting. Our eye sees in the plainest terms what signals an augmented breast in a way that is obvious even to a child."

"Her buttocks are a bit out of proportion today, but it emphasizes the importance of a narrow hip-to-outer-thigh ratio that makes a woman look fecund and sexy—especially with those dimples at the base of the spine. It also reminds me how the proportions of the human body look beautiful in so many other objects."